After Bobby is left alone in the cave thinking that he’s been abandoned by his mother and aunt, he comes to the realisation that he and the injured cockatoo need food. To that end he sets out to find whatever he can.
Any reader who doubts that some of the following scenarios could be possible should refer to "Black Saturday," a collection of stories told by people who narrowly missed death in the Victorian bushfires of February 2009. The book is edited by John McGourty.
As Bobby walked from the cave entrance, he faced the fire’s devastating aftermath once more. Grey ashes and blackened bush debris littered the mountain side. His mouth hung open as he stared down at his sneakers, almost obliterated by the inches-deep ash. It was impossible to avoid stirring up the rubbish and blackening his clothes as he stepped over soot-laden limbs and crunched charcoal underfoot. He picked his way carefully as he descended, unable to find any trace of the pathway he was used to walking. Occasional thin spirals of smoke and lonely black sentinels were all that remained of the hillside bush. Bobby wondered where the array of distant, familiar roofs of houses was, but as he got closer to the bottom of the mountain he knew that the piles of rubbish he'd seen in the distance had been houses before Hell took his mother and auntie away.
When he reached the first collapsed heap that had once been a building, it was obvious someone had been here since the fire, for he found blue chequered tape surrounding each heap. A half metre of tape lay on the ground, and he picked it up, toying with it absently. Police had been here. Not understanding the holocaust created by the bushfire, Bobby's eyes grew wider as he gaped at the scene of destruction.
Nothing seemed familiar. He couldn’t see any sign of his own street, and in panic he started running. When breathless and panting, he stopped. Tears smeared his grubby cheeks as he looked around desperately. He saw no untouched houses, and no people remained. Wiping away his tears on his sleeve he suddenly saw, across the street he was standing on, a familiar large rock. It was a rock he often jumped on, or jumped over. Sometimes he sat on it, while Maisie tendered their small garden. Obeying impulse, once more he called for his mother and his auntie. Then he heard a familiar sound; a car engine approaching.
Now scared. he ran for cover, avoiding the remains of the house and choosing the heap of rubble in the back corner which used to be a shed. He squatted down behind the twisted corrugated iron sheets out of sight. When he could see clearly he could tell it was a police car with two officers inside peering into all the nooks and crannies of previous happy homes. He wanted to call out. He wanted to get help -- but his family, especially his grandparents and uncles, hadn't think much of coppers. According to them the coppers hated all blacks, and as the car drew away, the dilemma left Bobby unprepared. He rose and held up his hand, opening his mouth to shout. Then he thought better of it.
When they'd gone out of sight he rose again, and ducking under the blue chequered tape he searched for something familiar. He left behind the remains of the steel garden fork, still sticking out of the ground with the stump of its handle now just brittle charcoal. Where was his mother and his auntie? Where were all the others, the elders, the relations, the friends? He sat on the rock, held his knees and dropped his head onto his forearms, sobbing his heart out. Bobby was a little boy again. Just for a little while all alone, he could drop his being in charge persona. The place was like a ghost town, everything destroyed and deserted. Bobby was convinced that in almost going to hell he had caused devastation to the whole town.
Seeing no one and unsure what to do, he wandered, heading further up the old street. Ahead he was shocked to see something he hadn't been able to see before. Three burnt out cars told a sad story. A large tree had crashed across the roadway, and apparently in the thick smoke the first car had crashed into it. Two more had concertinered into the first one. Walking up to the first car he stared curiously in through the door, wondering at the window glass now hanging like a ghostly stalactite from the door frame. On the road pools of melted metal alloy had set hard around the skeleton wheels.
Dejected, Bobby wandered back to his place, where another thought came to him. His fond neighbour and a loved friend of his mother and auntie, Sister Angelica, had lived next door to them. When he looked across he could see that no one would have survived in her house either; an old-fashioned bath tub on four gnarled legs remained white and lonely, nestled amongst the twisted iron. It looked ghostly and out of place.
When Shaz and Maisie first met Sister Angelica, she managed to persuade them to accompany her to weekly Bible study in the Catholic Hall. Apparently they loved it, still joking and talking about it when Bobby came home from school, and even cooking the occasional cake to share for morning tea.
Only the year before Bobby had started religious instruction at school almost by accident, when his mother had been talking to his teacher, and she asked, "Would you like Bobby to go to religious instruction Mrs -- aah -- Sharon?
"Aw yeah, if ya like," the mother responded.
"And what religion are you?”
"Aah, I dunno," Sharon thought for a second then asked, "What’cha got?"
"Well...Pastor Angus comes this afternoon. He's from the Baptist Church. Will he do?"
"Yeah, that'll be good," Sharon decided. So Bobby became a Baptist by default. When they discovered Sister Angelica living next door, or at least when Sister Angelica discovered them, Bobby already liked Pastor Angus. Not daunted though, Sister Angelica wasted no time in taking advantage of the opportunity to gather them into her flock, Bobby included. She babysat him countless times, even altering her Saturday morning work at the Catholic church to babysit Bobby while Sharon and Maisie attended to taking their turn on the roster to clean in the Baptist Church. Sister Angelica never questioned the ladies dedication to two different churches. Her solution was, "The Lord works in mysterious ways." And the ladies enjoyed the social life. In return they all loved Sister Angelica. She and Maisie hung over the fence talking gardens, and Angelica was always passing over cuttings from her’s.
As Bobby daydreamed, he almost jumped out of his skin when a voice startled him, even more so because the voice was Sister Angelica’s. At first he thought he was dreaming, and then it came again, louder. He whirled around and there she was, old slippers and apron as usual, grey hair wound into a tight bun on top of her head as always, running down the street towards him.
They ran into each other's arms and Sister Angelica lifted him off his feet and hugged him to her. They were laughing, crying, embracing; overwhelmed with joy. Through his tears Bobby saw another figure standing a few steps behind Sister Angelica.
When she put him down he wiped his eyes hurriedly and acknowledged 'old Zeke' from the other side of the street. Zeke’s house was a little old-fashioned cottage, probably built in the early 1900s, and Bobby was shocked to see the house was still there, standing untouched by the fire's fury. It may have been a few doors up on the other side, but why hadn't he noticed it? He couldn't believe his eyes. All sorts of questions were running through his mind. How had it suddenly popped up? Where did it come from? Bobby was astounded.
Angelica hurried the two boys back across to the cottage where Zeke formerly shook hands with Bobby saying, "Good boy, Bobby, good boy. God, this is remarkable. Where have you been boy?"
Sister Angelica hushed them while she ushered in tea, a cold drink and raisin toast for Bobby, and a large plate of biscuits and cake to share. Bobby couldn't believe his eyes and stuffed food into his mouth so fast the others hesitated to speak.
A rapid discussion followed but it would be quite a long while before Bobby heard the full story of how Sister Angelica escaped her house unhurt, and none of them would ever learn why the fire spared the little cottage.
It appeared that Sister Angelica, at her own house, had rescued the family of five from the first of the crashed cars, leading them up her few front stairs with the beam of a strong torch light, shining through the thick smoke. The family included a six-month-old baby boy, held close to his mother's chest under a wet towel. The nun plunged them all into the bath, with instructions to sit there together until the fire had passed.
Terrified and choking from smoke, children and mother pressed close together up to their waists in the water, their knees up to their chins. That's how Sister Angelica would remember them.
Clutching her torch, she left them with the words, "I'm going across the road to sit with Zeke. He's all alone and must be terrified."
When she got there she and Zeke sat in his lounge chair holding each other, praying and crying silently, waiting for an end to the madness.
One by one they heard the houses exploding around them.
Then the wind changed.
Eventually they rose from their seats and surveyed the devastation. Their breathing came easier, until Angelica took in the sight of her own house, and a strangled cry escaped from her throat. Along with everything else, the family she had rescued had perished. The unfounded guilt she would feel at the sight of that bath tub she would carry for the rest of her life.
But today was a day for joy, for the return of dear little Bobby. Zeke insisted they stay with him and the three found some happiness together. Bobby grieved for his mother and aunty, but Zeke rejoiced in his new found friends and for the first time in years felt useful.
Then Bobby remembered something in the middle of breakfast the next morning, "Sister," he asked earnestly, "I've got to go back to the cave. Can you give me some food for my friend?"
Sister Angelica was stunned. "Bobby! You have a friend back in the cave? Who is it?" she exclaimed in shock.
"My mate, Ashes," answered Bobby, “He escaped from hell too, and hid in the cave with me."
Intrigued, Angelica asked incredulously, "Ashes? Who’s Ashes? Where does he come from?"
"He’s a bird, Sister; with a broken wing I think, and burnt feathers. I had no food left and we ate all the bread and quanongs. He'll be starving!"
"Oh, we can't have that," Angelica agreed.
Bobby frowned. "Will you come with me?"
"Of course, Darlin’."
"What about Zeke?"
"Oh, Zeke's not up to walking up any mountains," "Not at 85!".
So the two set off; but when they came to the first 'house' at the base of the mountain, the police car was there again, with a Sgt Chester and Constable O'Neill inside.
Sister Angelica rushed up to the car declaring, "Sergeant, Sergeant! Look who we found! It's Bobby Olonungooloo! He's alive! He's alive!"
But the sergeant’s response was rather cool. "Bring him over here sister, I need to talk to him."
When Bobby was seated in the back of the car, the sergeant asked him, "Where have you been, boy?"
As the discussion went on the sergeant told him roughly, "Aah -- Don't worry about any birds kid. Just watch out for that old Catholic crow! She'll have you in the Catholic Church before you can say Jack Robinson! I'll take you to the aid station." Bobby didn't yet understand about people's prejudices, especially against religion. He knew about racism but this was his first experience of bigotry.
Reefing the back door open, he jumped out of the car and ran to Sister Angelica, clutching her and crying, "I want to stay with you. I want to stay with you!"
Shocked, the nun asked, "What's that old bigoted reprobate been saying to you, Sweetheart?" Then she put him gently aside saying angrily, "Wait here, Bobby," and marched to the car.
"You ought to be ashamed of yourself! You're just an old bigoted alcoholic!" She snapped.
"Ah, shuddup!" the sergeant responded angrily. “Bloody Catholic nuns! Always interfering!"
The constable was shocked, "Steady on Sarge; I'm a Catholic. Anyway, don't you think it's time we left?"
"Yeah, ya probably right O’Neill," Sergeant Chester grumbled, "We’re not gonna do any bloody good here!"
The constable spun the car around, showering gravel and stones and bouncing up out of the gutter back onto the road before driving off in a cloud of black dust.
Angelica and Bobby sat down on the ground together to gather their wits. The nun put her head in her hands.
When they got to the cave they fed Ashes some seed and water.
"Do you think he could live with us, Bobby?" asked the nun. Then she added, “Of course, you’d feed him and talk to him every day for me, wouldn’t you?”
"Oh yeah! Great!"
“And of course we’d have to check with Zeke. It’s his place,” Anjelica said quietly.
“Yeah, I s’pose,” Bobby almost whispered.
The next day, needing supplies, Bobby and Angelica trudged the four miles to the aid station. There was much rejoicing over Bobby's rescue, and, notwithstanding the generalised grief, the miraculous escape of Zeke and Angelica in Zeke's house.
When asked what she needed most Angelica replied, "A push bike." It was delivered that afternoon.
It was old, but it did the job and she was grateful. Now she had transport.
About a week later Zeke surprised her by asking to borrow the bike. It was three hours before he returned, pale and worn out. She put him to bed with tea and soup.
He recovered and potted around the garden for the next two weeks until one afternoon Bobby ran around the side of the house to be confronted by the old man's prostrate form on the ground.
--0--
Angelica sat in the lounge of the old man's cottage with her arm around Bobby. They missed their new-found friend who could never return.
"God works in mysterious ways, Bobby," Sister Angelica consoled.
The solicitor sitting opposite them agreed, "He does indeed," he remarked. "I don't think you realise how much Mr Ezekiel Toms thought of you, Sister.”
She responded, "He was a dear old man -- so kind. He was Scottish you know, and so sad he had no family. I think he must have been very lonely. I wish I’d got to know him sooner."
Mr Baker was satisfied that he had made no mistake, and informed them of his mission. "Mr Toms altered his will only two weeks ago."
Sister Angelica and Bobby couldn't believe they were now the joint owner s of a little cottage.
Angelica looked at the history around them in the house, then they looked at each other -- a Catholic nun and a boy. "Okay," she remarked, "I might not be your first choice, but here we are Bobby, a little family nonetheless."
Bobby's arms went around her neck and he whispered, "I love you, Sister."
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